Tag: Georgia qb

Carson Beck named as Georgia’s starting quarterback

Why did UGA football head coach Kirby Smart name Carson Beck as the starter over Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton?

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart has named quarterback Carson Beck as Georgia’s starter following the Bulldogs’ second preseason scrimmage.

Beck won the starting role over Gunner Stockton and Brock Vandagriff. Beck has a wealth of talent around him and looks to lead Georgia to a third straight national championship.

Kirby Smart named Beck as the starter in an interview following Georgia’s scrimmage on Aug. 19.

Carson Beck is going to be our starting quarterback. He’s done the best job.

Beck, who is Georgia’s most experienced option at quarterback, lacks mobility. Beck’s decision-making will be under the microscope in 2023. If the Dawgs avoid mistakes, only a handful of teams on Georgia’s schedule are capable of beating them.

Why did Smart name Beck as the starter? He explained that his decision came down to experience and comfort in the system.

That’s the greatest separator between he and the other two quarterbacks is his comfort level with the offense. … The two young ones have done a great job.

It is awesome to see Beck’s patience pay off. Most other quarterbacks would have transferred long ago.

Georgia’s first two games of the season are at home against UT Martin and Ball State. The Bulldogs will have plenty of time to get Beck comfortable and allow him to gain experience. Beck and Georgia will not have to go on the road until Week 5 at Auburn.

Georgia has a fairly easy schedule and should go through the regular season undefeated or with only one loss. The Bulldogs have an excellent chance to make the College Football Playoff.

However, there will be a moment (or several moments), as there was for Stetson Bennett against Alabama in the national championship and Ohio State in College Football Playoffs, where Beck will have to step up and lead the offense on a scoring drive.

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JT Daniels not starting for UGA football

Georgia Bulldogs quarterback JT Daniels is not expected to start today against the UAB Blazers

Georgia Bulldogs quarterback JT Daniels is not expected to start today against the UAB Blazers. Daniels has been dealing with a core injury.

In his place, Carson Beck has been getting some of the reps with the starting offense. Stetson Bennett is another proven back up the Bulldogs may utilize. Will the Dawgs start Beck or Bennett?

Georgia additionally could still play Daniels, but he is not expected to start. Daniels is suffered from an oblique injury and still got some starting reps this week in practice.

Fortunately for the Dawgs, Georgia is still expected to defeat UAB with relative ease regardless of who starts at quarterback. UAB are the defending Conference USA champions, so they are expected to put up a fight.

Georgia QB Matthew Stafford made his first career start in the last game between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) Blazers at Sanford Stadium. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

No. 2-ranked Georgia is coming off a big-time win over the previously No. 3-ranked Clemson Tigers last week. Kirby Smart and Georgia will look to avoid a letdown against UAB.

The Bulldogs could roll with experience in Stetson Bennett if Carson Beck struggles. The UGA quarterback situation should be viewed as fluid for the UAB game. Freshman Brock Vandagriff additionally could make his college debut in the second half.

Georgia will have a more explosive offensive attack against UAB and that will start with the running game. The Blazers will look to stop the Georgia run game. Georgia is returning to a full-capacity Sanford Stadium for the first time since Nov. 2019.

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Paul Finebaum on Georgia-Florida: ‘Very dangerous game for Kirby Smart’

Paul Finebaum discusses the Georgia-Florida game and how there is a lot of pressure on UGA football HC Kirby Smart to win it.

It’s Georgia-Florida day, and the No. 5 ranked Dawgs are looking to make it four in a row over the No. 8 Gators in Jacksonville.

For both sides, this is an SEC Championship play-in game. The loser of this matchup will have two losses on its record.

Georgia, though favored and ranked higher, is actually viewed as an underdog in the eyes of many for this one. A lackluster offense and a banged up defense have created a lot of doubt about UGA’s chances of winning.

Related: Five reasons Georgia will win

Related: Five reasons Georgia could lose

While on ESPN’s First Take this week, Paul Finebaum discussed the challenges that UGA and Kirby Smart face for the Cocktail Party, in addition to speaking on Georgia’s unfortunate quarterback situation.

“This is a precarious game for Georgia,” Finebaum said. “They’ve only lost to Alabama, they led at halftime, got blown out in the second half. They had an uninspiring game last week against Kentucky, only scoring 14 points. And if they lose this game, there are going to be a lot of people who go back into the history books of two years ago and start asking the question to Kirby Smart, ‘How did you let Justin Fields get away?’”

We know the story. Fields transferred to Ohio State after one year at Georgia. Now he’s a Heisman contender. Then Jamie Newman transferred to Georgia from Wake Forest, but we never got to see him in red and black as he opted out in the preseason.

Now, it’s all on Stetson Bennett’s shoulders. A former JUCO star, Bennett has struggled during the 2020 season, and he’ll need to clean it up today and limit turnovers if UGA wants to keep with Florida’s offense.

“They’re severely challenged,” Finebaum said. “And as I say that, Florida has one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Kyle Trask. … So this is a very dangerous game for Kirby Smart.”

Former Georgia WR JJ Holloman shares awesome DM he got from Stetson Bennett in 2016

Former Georgia football WR Jeremiah Holloman shared a really cool DM he got from UGA QB Stetson Bennett back in 2016.

Stetson Bennett has overcome a ton of obstacles en route to becoming Georgia’s starting quarterback in 2020.

Rewind years before he was leading a Bulldog team to a victory over Auburn, Bennett was once a 2-star recruit out of Pierce County High School in Blackshear, Georgia.

He wound up walking on at UGA in 2017. After redshirting, he transferred to Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi. And then he came back and sat behind Jake Fromm for another year. Now, he’s the starter on the No. 3 ranked Georgia team that just took down then-ranked No. 7 Auburn.

Former Georgia wide receiver Jeremiah Holloman took to Twitter after Georgia’s beatdown of Auburn to share a really cool message he received from Bennett when they both in high school in 2016. Bennett had messaged Holloman, who was a highly-ranked 4-star recruit out of Convington, for contact info for a member of the Auburn coaching staff. Bennett was preparing to go to an Auburn camp and “just wanted someone to know” that he’d be in attendance.

Bennett completed 17/28 passes for 240 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions during Georgia’s 26-7 victory over the Tigers.

As Holloman said on Twitter – “I think they know you now.”

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What Auburn football media is saying about Georgia ahead of Saturday’s matchup

No. 4 Georgia takes on No. 7 Auburn Saturday at 7:30 p.m., see what Auburn media is saying about the Bulldogs here.

The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry is here a bit early.

Because of the SEC-only schedule this season amid the Covid-19 pandemic, No. 4 Georgia and No. 7 Auburn matchup in just their second games of the season.

Once again we are in the dark about who will start at quarterback for the Bulldogs.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart and staff elected to start redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis against Arkansas, and then abruptly pulled him after only five drives for junior Stetson Bennett.

Bennett played well, using his championship run experience at Jones County Junior College in 2018 to lead the Bulldogs back from a 5-point deficit to beat Arkansas 37-10.

There was a chance we would see USC transfer J.T. Daniels if he was cleared from an ACL tear from 2019, but he wasn’t cleared before kickoff like Smart hoped.

Then, on Monday, Smart announced that Daniels had been cleared for gameplay and now the Bulldogs once again must make a decision on who will start at signal caller.

Here is what the Auburn media is saying about Georgia and its quarterback situation:

“A defense that led the nation in points allowed last year (12.6 per game) and rushing defense (75 yards per game), the Georgia Bulldogs bring back plenty of talent from that 2019 group led by a deep and talented front seven along with a secondary that has one of the best college football players in the country in senior safety Richard LeCounte.”

“We recruit the state; I think a third of our team is from the state of Georgia,” Malzahn said. “You can look at it since I’ve been at Auburn, it’s always been very, very important and the winner’s usually gone on to do really well. It’s a big one.”

“Smart has had to worry about his own quarterback situation this week after redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis started but struggled against the Razorbacks and junior Stetson Bennett entered the game in relief. The availability of Daniels, a former five-star recruit, has muddied the picture going into Saturday’s game, and Smart has been hesitant to tip his hand one way or the other.”

“No. 7 Auburn at No. 4 Georgia (-6.5): The wrong team is favored here. I don’t buy that JT Daniels is 100% following his knee injury last season or that he has the same ceiling as he did prior to it. Whether it’s Daniels or Stetson Bennett IV, Auburn’s defense won’t be threatened by an offense that struggled to find its sea legs. Auburn has its work cut out for it on offense, though. Quarterback Bo Nix looked better after some halftime adjustments last week, and there’s no doubt that coach Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Chad Morris held back much of the offense against Kentucky. Take those points, but you won’t need them. Auburn will win this game outright. Pick: Auburn (+6.5)”

 

 

Former Georgia QB Aaron Murray says of current UGA QB D’Wan Mathis – ‘extremely impressive’

Former Georgia quarterbacK Aaron Murray says current UGA QB D’Wan Mathis ‘extremely impressive.’ Details and analysis here.

Georgia football’s quarterback competition will be interesting to watch after projected starter Jamie Newman’s decision to opt-out of the 2020 CFB season.

Intersting, yet nerve racking.

The Bulldogs are left with USC transfer J.T. Daniels, redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis, fourth-year junior Stetson Bennett and freshman Carson Beck.

Daniels is by far the most tenured quarterback on the list.

Before a knee injury derailed his 2019 season – ultimately leading to him signing with the Bulldogs in July – Daniels threw for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on a 59.5 % completion rate at USC in 2018.

Daniels will be the favorite to start for Georgia against Arkansas week one, but don’t count out the other guys in the room just yet.

Take Mathis for example. He came to Georgia in 2019 rated as the No. 11 pro style quarterback and showed flashes of brilliance in scrimmages until surgery to remove a brain cyst sidelined him for the rest of 2019.

He is now fully cleared and competing for the starting spot.

In a Tweet Wednesday afternoon, after reports of Newman’s decision to transfer, former Georgi quarterback Aaron Murray gave his thoughts on Mathis’ abilities.

Any input from the SEC’s all-time leading passer is welcome here. If Mathis can impress Murray, maybe we are too quick to crown Daniels as the starter just yet.

Georgia football addition of Jamie Newman among CFB’s 5 biggest summer storylines

Georgia football adding Jamie Newman is one of the leading storylines heading into the 2020 CFB season, as well coronavirus.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to find a college football storyline bigger than what’s going on at the moment.

Will we even have a 2020 college football season? Will there be fans if we do? How will recruiting be impacted? Will we have to push back National Signing Day? What about future player eligibility? Will the financial impact be too much to overcome?

Coronavirus will be at the center of college football storylines up until we kickoff the 2020 season (fingers crossed).

However, there’s only so much coronavirus that we can discuss before we drive ourselves crazy, if it’s not already too late.

That’s why I give props to Saturday Blitz, a Fansided college football website. Jake Mitchell wrote a story titled ‘College Football: 5 biggest storylines to follow during summer 2020,’ and did a nice job of talking about things other than the obvious – coronavirus.

Of course he had to make mention to the pandemic that is putting the season in jeopardy, but he touched on some of the storylines that would be front-page news if COVID-19 never came about.

In ranking his top-five storylines, how Jamie Newman will perform during his lone season at Georgia made the list.

Is Jamie Newman the Guy in Athens? — That’s what Mitchell ranked as the fourth biggest storyline heading into the 2020 season.

Right now there’s obviously no way of answering that, but after seeing Jake Fromm’s unexpected struggles in 2019, Georgia fans are hopeful that the offense can’t get any worse.

Newman is a dual-threat quarterback transfer from Wake Forest. He’s already receiving Heisman-hype and is considered one of college football’s top returning passers this year.

Mitchell wrote:

There’s never been a question about talent during Smart’s tenure in Athens. The thing that’s held the Bulldogs back has been an offense that stalls frequently and the lack of a quarterback who has the ability to make things happen on his own when these stalls occur. Fromm is a fine player, but he wasn’t that guy.

The one thing that will make this hard for Newman will be the shadow that hangs over him. Georgia already had the dynamic quarterback that could make things happen himself, and his name was Justin Fields. Smart chose Fromm, and Fields left for Ohio State.

Georgia football QB Jamie Newman hits trick pass on Tik Tok

New Georgia football transfer QB Jamie Newman from Wake Forest throws trick shot on Tik Tok during quarantine.

Saturday, Georgia quarterback Jamie Newman posted a video on Tik Tok showing what he is up to during quarantine.

The Wake Forrest transfer showcased some incredible touch with a trick pass into a pool-side basketball goal from distance and followed it up with a quote inspiring Dawg Nation to keep the faith.

As a junior at Wake Forest, Newman graded as the third best quarterback, according to PFF, behind Georgia transfer Justin Fields and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence

He finished last year with 2,868 yards passing, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions to go along with 574 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

The statistics point to Newman being a star in Athens, but Bulldog fans are anxious to see if Newman can lead Georgia to a potential 2020 CFP birth.

Let’s hope the 2020 season will be as smooth as Neman’s Tik Tok game…